Scriptural Evidences in Support of Polygamy

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES

SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY:

BEING AN ADDRESS ENTITLED

3Hornagt cni 3Haralfi itt fliajj:

BY PARLEY P. PRATT;

PROTESTANT MINISTER'S ARGUMENTS

FROM THE BIBLE IN FAVOR OF POLYGAMY:

EXTRACTED FROM THE WORK OP THE REV. D. 0. ALLEN, D. D., MISSIONARY
OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS FOR TWENTY-
FIVE YEARS IN INDIA.

SAN FRANCISCO:
PUBLISHED BY GEORGE Q. CANNON, 118J MONTGOMERY STREET.

1856.

Historian's Office Library

The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints

M23^+. 71
P9l6^ s

1 I T l i

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES

IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS,

The " Polygamy of the Mormons" is a subject that has been
so much dwelt upon in this country, and apparently so little understood
by those who have undertaken the task of explaining it, that we deem it
but simple justice to ourselves to publish a few of our reasons for believ-
ing in this principle. To many individuals the idea of publicly advocat-
ing so '■' heathenish " a doctrine, may be startling, and they doubtless will
feel inclined to look upon any such movement with suspicion. With the
word Polygamy, is associated something so very wicked, repulsive, and
subversive of virtue and chastity, that its mere mention is sufficient to
arouse a host of prejudices and antipathies, that effectually close the ears
and harden the hearts against any inquiry or investigation. To convince
such individuals of its truth and perfect agreement with the Holy Scrip-
tures, or to persuade them that the Latter-Day Saints are actuated by
pure and upright motives in believing and practicing it, will, no doubt,:
be difficult. But there are those in whose minds the love of the truth is
not entirely quenched by tradition and prejudice, and who are disposed to
hear and examine, and weigh well the evidence adduced before they
pronounce the condemnation. With them the evidence of scripture will
have influence, and they will be disposed, at least, to give us credit for
closely adhering to the word of God in our belief on this subject.

We wish men to be left without excuse for believing the wild,
fanciful and untruthful stories told about us and our belief and practice of
this system; and we know of no plan likely to be more effectual than that
of publishing a portion of the evidence upon which we base our belief.
It is the most noble defence we can offer to the world of the integrity of
our motives, and the falsehood of the charges, which those who delight to
villify us have heaped upon us for our belief and practice of this system.
So public a declaration of the principle and the scriptural evidences in its
favor, must convince every honest mind that, so far as this is concerned,
we have done all in our power to give every one an opportunity to prove
to their own satisfaction its truth or falsity, its agreement or disagree-

4 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OP POLYGAMY.

ment with the words of eternal truth recorded in the Bible. We have
not only published evidences drawn from the writings of a Latter-Day
Saint, but to add, if possible, to their weight, and to make them more
conclusive to the minds of those who might be disposed to view with
dubiety and distrust any testimony adduced by the " Mormons," have
made extracts from other sources, have brought forward arguments
advanced by Monogamists, whose education, predelictions and associa-
tions would have prompted them to reject such a doctrine as ungodly and
calculated to produce evil, had it not been eminently sustained and
warranted by the Scriptures. The attention of these Protestant minis-
ters, whose arguments in favor of this doctrine we have embodied in this
work, was drawn to the consideration of the subject for various reasons,
and they merely record the result of their careful examination of the
Scriptures.

We wish it distinctly understood, however, that it is not for the
purpose of teaching the practice of Polygamy that" we publish these
evidences in its favor; but having been aspersed and our motives maligned
to an almost unlimited extent for our belief in this principle, we take this
opportunity to defend it, and show to the world that though a favorite
point of attack for our assailants, it is by no means a vulnerable one. Our
mission to this country is to teach the people the necessity of belief, on the
Lord Jesus Christ, of repentance of sin, of baptism by water for .its
remission, and the laying on of hands, according to the scriptural pattern,
for the gift of the Holy Ghost. To prove to the world that these first
principles of the gospel of Christ must be obeyed, and to inspire them
with a desire to obey them, is pre-eminently the mission of the Elders of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. But in filling this
mission, as it is well known that we believe in Polygamy, and to the
minds of many, belief in such a principle is incompatible with the belief
and practice of these first principles of the gospel, we have a strong
prejudice to contend with; therefore, we take this method of proving to
all men, that in condemning and refusing to obey the gospel of Jesus
Christ as taught in these days by the elders of the Latter-Day , Saints^
because of their belief or practice of Polygamy, they are entirely unwar-
ranted and inexcusable, there being as great an abundance of Scriptural
testimony to substantiate that, as any other principle of the gospel.

But though we cite the testimony of the Scriptures to convince,
mankind that this principle was correct, and this institution was the one
which the Lord revealed and even commanded his people in former,
generations to observe, yet it is not upon this evidence that we presume
to practice it at the present time. These scriptural evidences show what,
the mind of the Lord was in former times relative to this principle; they
show that the Latter-Day Saints in putting this doctrine in practice,
merely do what the people of God did iu previous ages, and therefore,

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY.

that Polygamy is not a new-fangled doctrine of their own invention ; but
they do not give to the Latter-Day Saints, or to any other people, the right
and authority to enter into the practice of this system aside from the com-
mand of God, any more than the Scriptures give the right and authority to
every person who may peruse them to go forth and preach the gospel or
officiate in its ordinances. Whenever this system is practiced under the
divine sanction of the Almighty, it will be by His direct command; and
He will undoubtedly reveal the laws by which its observance will . be
governed, so that everything connected therewith will be under proper
restrictions and done in order. Until this command was given, though
they had all the evidences of Scripture that this doctrine was believed
and practiced by the people of God in ancient days, the Latter-Day
Saints never dared to adopt it. The Lord in his wisdom, however, saw
fit to give it, accompanying it by so strong a testimony of His Holy Spirit
that there was no room to doubt; the only alternative that was left us,
therefore, was to believe and obey it.

• Since the first organization of the Church of the Lord in these days,
every- exertion has been made to lay our principles in plainness - and
simplicity before the people, that they, might examine and judge for them-
selves. Prompted by the knowledge that they are the principles of life
and salvation, and therefore, necessary to be known and understood by all,
we wish to", continue our exertions, until every "man will be left without
excuse for rejecting the truth. If our belief in polygamy is the excuse, we
wish to deprive them of it, by showing to them by the testimony of the
Bible that they are as much bound to believe it as any other principle of
the Gospel ef Christ. After men have perused the evidences adduced by
the Latter-Day Saints in its favor they cannot be justified in rejecting it,
any more than they can be justified in rejecting the doctrines of belief in
Jesus, repentance and baptism. Do the Scriptures teach us that these
are correct principles? so they do that polygamy is correct. If we are to
believe their testimony in one instance, we must, to be consistent, also
believe their testimony in the other. The same Being who revealed,
commanded and sanctioned the principles of faith, repentance and baptism,
has also revealed, commanded and sanctioned polygamy; and every
believer in the Bible will be as much constrained to believe the latter as
the former. If the Latter-Day Saints were the first people who ever
believed or practiced this doctrine, then there might, perhaps, be a, little
more room to doubt its divine authenticity; but this, as all who peruse
the following pages will be forced to admit, was not the case. It was
believed, practiced and taught by the ancient servants of God under His
immediate sanction and approbation.

Discussion and examination will only have the tendency to make
this more apparent to every observer, and after this principle has been
thoroughly tested by the aid of scripture and reason, it will then be found

6 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY.

to be as clearly demonstrable and irrefutable as the other principles of
what men are pleased to call, "Morinonism."

There is another method also by which men can prove the truth of
this and every other principle of the gospel for themselves, and that is,
by asking the Father in the name of Jesus to give unto them an evidence
by which they may know as to its truth or falsity; if they do this in
humility and faith, there can be no deception about what they will receive;
inasmuch as it is a principle originating with him, he will acknowledge it
by the testimony of His Holy Spirit. The evidence of the scripture is
sufficient to prove that its practice by the ancients was correct; but the
testimony of the Spirit will be convincing evidence that it is correct at. the
present time. Having received this evidence, and thereby knowing that
the principle comes from the Lord, we advocate and defend it with confi-
dence and pleasure. It is upon such testimony, supported, of course, by
the testimony of scripture, that all the doctrines of " Mormonism " are
advanced to the world for their consideration. The evidence is of such a
nature that all can prove to their own satisfaction whether it be true or
false. But it is not upon such evidence that the doctrine of polygamy, or
any of the doctrines of Mormonism, are assailed. It is too frequently the
case that men do not stop to make the slightest investigation relative to
the matter; if a doctrine does not correspond with their views, that is
sufficient to condemn it, and they immediately raise the cry about the
delusion of " Mormonism."

The Latter-Day Saints affirm that an evidence of the truth of the
principles of " Mormonism " has been received by them from the Lord,
They furthermore affirm that every person who will take the course
recommended, will receive a similar testimony. Why do not individuals
if they are anxious to satisfy themselves on this subject, take this course?
It would be much the easiest and best plan, as they have but to solicit in
the proper spirit and they will obtain the necessary knowledge. Until
they take this course, and prove for themselves that no such testimony or
knowledge can be obtained, they certainly are far from being justified in
condemning " Mormonism " or any of its doctrines.

The seeker after truth aud the curious have now another opportunity
of learning the Latter-Day Saints' reasons for believing in polygamy. The
arguments are deduced from the Book which all christians profess to
believe and reverence; and they are submitted to the prayerful consider-
ation of the reader, with the hope that all those who may hereafter feel
inclined to condemn the " polygamy of the Mormons," and who profess to
believe the Scriptures, will not depend on mere assertion to bear them out
in their opposition, but will bring forth their strong reasons from those
records to show why it should not be believed.

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY.

i'

MARRIAGE AND MORALS IN UTAH:

-■I i ,

AN. ADDRESS WRITTEN BY ELDER PARLEY P. PRATT, READ IN JOINT SESSION
;BY,,MR. THOMAS BULLOCK, CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE, IN REPRESENTA-
. TIVES' HALL, FILLMORE, DECEMBER 31ST., 1855. THE ASSEMBLY TEN-
DERED .THE AUTHOR THEIR THANKS BY A UNANIMOUS VOTE, AND BY A
LIKE VOTE ORDERED THE ADDRESS TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE DESERET NEWS.

Mr. President and Gentlemen:

At the opening of the present session of our annual Legislature
I had the honor of being unanimously chosen Chaplain of the Council.

* I was then and there laid under a solemn oath to faithfully perform
the duties of this high and holy calling to the best of my abilities, and
was also solemnly charged by the honorable President, Mr. Kimball, not
merely to be fervent in prayer during the session, but also to contribute
my mite in moulding the moral and social institutions of our common
country.

In accordance with these sacred responsibilities placed upon me, I
have, with some pains, prepared this address, which I am extremely happy
in having the privilege of laying before you; not merely, or principally for
your sakes; but for the sake of the people of our Territory — our nation,
and the world.

As our young and rising Territory is about preparing to enter upon
her sovereignty as a free and independent republic, and to assume her
place amid the family of American States, it becomes her citizens, and
especially those engaged in founding her institutions, to purify themselves
and to come together with pure hearts and clean hands; and, clothed
with light as with a garment, lay a constitutional foundation, and make or
adopt such laws as will tend to purify and exalt the people, establish
righteousness and peace, and multiply and perpetuate a nation of freemen
in the highest degree of moral, intellectual and physical development.
'• ' No time-serving, or mere temporary policy should enter into our
composition, or influence us for one moment. We act, not merely or
principally for ourselves or the living age but for untold millions of pos-
terity, and for ages yet unborn, who doubtless will be influenced by our
institutions," and mould their morals, manners, precepts, and even their
consciences more or less after the pattern we set them.

P 3QIUPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OP POLYGAMY.

A wholesome moral atmosphere, and a conscience purified and en-
lightened by the Spirit of Truth are indispensably necessary to a perma-
nent national growth, and to the strength and perpetuity of institutions.

The All-wise Creator, the God of nature, /has implanted in; the fcuman
heart certain affections, which, under proper culture and direction, give
rise to family ties: hence the necessity and importance of the moral and
social relations, and the institutions for their proper direction and govern-
ment. 'Tis nature's universal law,' and the just and great commandment
with blessing, that each and every species should multiply and fill the
measure of its creation.. Hence the growth of families — the germs of na-
tions: and hence, as we before observed, the necessity of laws founded in
wisdom, to guard, as it were, the fountain and issues of life. In short,
moral and social affections and institutions are the very foundation of all
government, whether of family, church or state. If these are perverted,
or founded in error, the whole superstructure is radically wrong, and will
contain within itself the seeds of its own decay and dissolution. These
facts are not only self evident, but are according to all experience; being
exemplified in the decadence and dissolution of nations and empires of old,
as well as in the general weakness and corruption so characteristic of men
and things in modern times.

The prophet Isaiah, in looking through the vista of long distant years,
at length beholds the vision of modern " Christendom," or of the corrup-
tions growing out of Roman sway. He exclaims: Isaiah 24: 5, " The
earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have
transgressed the laws,- changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting
covenant." We Here inquire: What laws were transgressed? what ordi"
nance was changed? and what everlasting covenant was broken— the effect
of which would defile the very earth under, its inhabitants?

This leads us back, in our researches, to the earliest institutions, laws,
ordinances, covenants, and precedents or record touching marriage and
the'moral and social' relations.

If we find laws, statutes, covenants and precedents emanating from
God; sworn to by himself to be everlasting; as a blessing to all nations;
if we find these have to do with exceeding multiplicity of the race, and
with family and national organization and increase: if such institutions
are older than Moses, and are found perpetuated and unimpaired by
Moses, and the prophets — Jesus and the Apostles, then it will appear
evident, that they were intended to be perpetual; and that no merely hu-
man legislation or authority, whether proceeding from emperor, king or
people, has a right to change, alter, or pervert them.

It will then remain to be shown by whom these institutions were
changed, or perverted: the direful effect of such change upon the nations;
and the only course left for those who would survive the crash of nations
and the wreck of worlds.

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY. U

Our 'object, gentlemen, is to urge upon the statesmen and people, of
at least one state or government of our earth, to avoid the rock and
quicksands on which so many have made shipwreck — to restore the laws,
the ordinance, and the everlasting covenant of our God; that her citizens
may be purified and preserved by the same ; and her institutions, being
founded in truth, may be perpetuated forever. I beseech, therefore,
honorable gentlemen to hear me patiently.

Abraham, the friend of God, lived in Asia upwards of four hundred
years before the law of Moses was written on tables of stone, or thundered
from Mount Sinai. To this man God gave laws, commandments, statutes,
and judgments in an everlasting covenant. He said unto him: Genesis
12th, verse 2d: " And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless
thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee
shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

And again: Genesis, 11th, verses 1st to 8th; "And when Abrain
was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said
unto him; I am the Almighty God: walk before me and be thou perfect,
and I will make my covenant between me and thee, and I will multiply
thee exceedingly. And Abram fell ou his face: aud God talked with him
saying, as for me, behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the
father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called
Abram; but thy name shall be called Abraham; for a father of many
nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and
I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee, and I will
establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in
their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and
thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee and thy seed after thee,
the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an ever-
lasting possession; and I will be their God."

In the foregoing promises it is evident that there is an everlasting
covenant, touching multiplicity of our species, government making, or the
raising up of families and nations, and their exceeding prosperity and In-
crease: a covenant everlasting and unchangeable in which all uations
should be blessed, if they were ever blessed at all. In connection with
this covenant we have reason to believe that God would reveal laws, stat-
utes, and institutions which would be productive of the greatest possible
increase of a wise, healthy, and virtuous posterity.

In the precedents recorded of Abraham and his posterity, two princi-
ples are conspicuous as being subservient to the carrying out of those
ends: viz:

First: A plurality of wives:

Secondly: An entire prohibition of all sexual intercourse except upon
the principle of marriage; — a breach of which was considered a capital

10 scriptural evidences in support of polygamy.

offence, puuisbablc with death. God provided Abraham with Sarah,
Hagar, Keturah, and several other wives not named. By this means he
became the father of many nations and his seed was multiplied exceedingly.

God also gave to Jacob, Abraham's grandson, four wives: viz; Leah,
llachel, Bilhah, and Zilpha; by which means he became the father of the
twelve tribes. The history of these things is so conspicuous in the book
of Genesis that we need not quote chapter and verse.

Now after Abraham had obtained all these wives, and had raised np
children by them, the Lord bears testimony in the 26th chapter of Gene-
sis, verse 5th, saying: "Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge,
my commandments, my statutes,, and my laws." Here then, we have
demonstrated that a man living four hundred years before the law of
Moses was given, had statutes,, commandmeuts, and laws given to him of
God; and that he kept them.

These laws evidently included polygamy or plurality of wives, from
the fact that he had them, as a means of earning out the promise of
exceeding multiplicity. Here then, the matter is set forever at rest, that
polygamy is included in the ordinance of marriage, and in the everlasting
covenant and laws of God; and that, under proper regulations, it is an
institution holy, just, virtuous, pure, aud, in the estimation of God,
abundantly calculated to bless, preserve, aud multiply a nation. Hence
the laws of some of our States, which recognize polygamy as a crime, are
at once both unscriptural, and unconstitutional, as well as immoral.
Common law in England, and in the United States, recognizes the Bible
as the very foundation of all moral and criminal jurisprudence; and the
Constitution of the United States, and of each State guarantees the
liberty, of at least an enlightened conscience, founded on the moral law of
God as found in that Holy Book. Hence, should an individual, or a
community, in all good faith regulate their marriages by the laws of God
as given to Abraham, no State law can harm them while the civil courts
are bound to abide that holy and sacred guarantee of the Constitution:
viz: "-Liberty of Conscience."

Having demonstrated the fact of an everlasting covenant made with
Abraham and his seed, including plural marriage, and certain laws
designed to multiply and bless many nations, and to be a blessing to all
the families of the earth, we will now inquire after the penal laws touching
morality, or the intercourse of the sexes.

The first intimation we will notice on this subject is found in Genesis
20th chapter: as follows: "And Abraham journeyed from thence towards
the south country and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in
Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister: and
Abimelech, kiug of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to
Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, behold thou art but a
dead man for the woman which thou hast taken, for she is a man's wife.

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY. 11

But Abiuielech had not come near her: and he said, Lord wilt thou slay
also a righteous nation? Said he not. unto me, she is my sister? and she,
even she herself, said, he is my brother: in the integrity of my heart, ancf
the innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in
a dream, yea I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart:
for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee
not to touch her. Now therefore, restore the man his wife ; for he is a
prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: but if thou
restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that
are thine."

Here we have the law of God revealed by his own mouth about
four hundred years before the law of Moses was given : making death the
penalty of adultery. This penal law then, was part and parcel of the
laws, statutes, and covenants under which Abraham and his neighbor
lived, and it seems to have been an ancient and general law handed down
by the fathers, to which Abimelech was no stranger; he did not plead his
ignorance of the law, but the innocency of his intentions, and his ignorance
of the true circumstances.

Again, Genesis, chapter 34, records a case of fornication, committed
by Sechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, prince of the country, with
Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham; and how
punished. Two of the sons of Jacob, viz: Simeon and Levi, took their
swords aud slew this fornicator and all the men about him, who had been
accessory to the seduction of their sister, or who had consented thereto;
and they took their goods for a spoi 1 . They may in this case have
transcended the bounds of the law; but still it goes to show with what
abhorrence these sons of a chaste and plural marriage held the crjme of
fornication.

We will now inquire whether the law of Moses, or the gospel ever
changed the covenant of Abraham, or disannulled the law of marriage,
or the penalty of death affixed to adultery and fornication. For this
purpose we shall trace the subject down through the different ages and
dispensations, bringing a few instances out of many, illustrative of the
subject. But first of all we will take the direct testimony of the Apostle
Paul, found in Galatians, 3rd chapter, 14th to 18th verses inclusive,
which reads thus:

" That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be but a
man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulled it, or addeth
thereto. Now to Abraham aud his seed were the promises made, he
saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which
is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was coufirmed before
of God in Christ; — the law (of Moses) which was four hundred and

12 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT 0» POLYGAMY - .

thirty years after, can not disannul, that it should make the promise of
none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, (of Moses,) it is no
more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise."

Again, verse 29th, Paul says to the Gentiles, " If ye be Christ's,
then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

Here we have the most direct and positive testimony, in the New
Testament, that the covenant and promise made to Abraham were inten
ded for all time, and for the believing Gentiles, and all true Christian
people; and that they were entirely distinct from the law of Moses, and
were never disannulled, or changed, either by Moses or Christ. Hence
we affirm that the law of plural marriage, and death as the penalty of
adultery and fornication, has been in force through all time, and through
every dispensation, from Abraham till the present: and that of right it
should be of force among all truly Christian nations: — that the carrying
out of these holy laws in righteousness would greatly multiply and bless a
nation ; — and that the breach, or change of them, would corrupt the world,
and defile the very earth with abominations.

But let us now come to historical illustrations. In the 25th chapter
of Numbers we have an account ©f Zimri, a prince in Israel, who commit-
ted fornication with Cosbi, the daughter of Zur, a prince of Midian: and
how Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, the priest, took a javelin and
thrust them both through the body, and slew them: and how the Lord
staid the plague on account of this act; and rewarded Phinehas with an
everlasting covenant of priesthood, for his zeal in thus punishing the crime
of fornication. We should remember too that Moses, who was himself a
polygamist, both in practice and as a legislator, was the prophet and
legislator, under whose administration this crime was thus severely
punished.

In the 1st book of Samuel, chapter 1st, we find an account of
Elkanah, and his two wives, Hannah and Peniunah; and of Samuel, the
son of this pluralist, who was a promised child, devoted to the service of
God, and brought up in the holy temple. To this child came the word of
the Lord against the house of Eli the priest, saying: 1st Samuel, 3rd
chapter, verses 11th to 14th: "Behold I will do a thing in Israel, at
which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that
day will I perform against Eli all the things which I have spoken concern-
ing his house: where I begin I will also make an end. For I have tokl
him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knoweth;
because his sons make themselves vile, and he restraineth them not.
Therefore, I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's
house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever."

Here seems to be certain sins which the ordinances of remission
could never cleanse. God swore that neither sacrifice nor offering should
ever atone for them. What were these sins committed by the sous of Eli?

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY. 13

Tbe answer is found in 2nd chapter of 1st Samuel. • They, as priests,
robbed the sacrifices, and committed whoredoms with the women who
came to the tabernacle: this they did repeatedly and would not repent:
In the 4th chapter of said book, we find the record of the fulfilment of
the words of the young child, Samuel. Israel was worsted in a battle
with the Philistines; the two priests, the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phine-
has, were slain; the sacred ark which they bore was taken by the enemy;
their father Eli, on hearing this news, fell backward and his neck brake;
and Phinehas' wife died on bearing the same news. Here we hare a
most striking example and illustration of God's blessing on plural mar-
riage, and of his curse and death, attendant on adultery and fornication;
Samuel, the son of Elkanah the polygamist, was blessed as a holy prophet,
to denounce death upon adulterers.

"We next will notice a case of adultery committed by David, king of
Israel, and how punished. 2nd Sam. chapter 12th, verses 1 to 14: "And
Nathan said unto David: Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God
of Israel: I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of
the hand of Saul; and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's
wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah ;
and if that had been too little, I would, moreover, have given unto thee
such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment
of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain
Mm with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword
shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and
hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

Thus saith the Lord, behold I will raise up evil against thee out of
thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give
them uuto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of
this sun. Eor thou didst it secretly; but I will do this thing before all
Israel and before the sun. Aud David said unto Nathan: I have sinned
against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath
put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed
thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme,
the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die."

Here again we fiud the penalty of adultery; but in this instance God
in his mercy spared his life because it was a first offence, and because he
sincerely repented. But he punished him very severely, in the death of
his child, in taking his wives from him, and in denouncing rebellion and
war in his own house. In this iustance, as in all former cases, the same
God who punishes adulterers with such 'severity, declares in favor of
polygamy, and expressly reveals the fact that he, himself, gave into
David's bosom the wives of his master Saul.

These few instauces drawn from the old Testament, must suffice to

14 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY.

show that Moses and the prophets did not alter the lav of marriage, or
the penal laws against adultery, etc., as existing in the everlasting
covenant made with Abraham.

We next inquire whether Jesus Christ and his Apostles ever altered
or abolished these laws. John, chapter 8th, verses 3 to 7, reads thus:
"And the scribes and pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in
adultery, and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him:

Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Kow
Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned; but what
sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to
accuse him. But Jesus stooped clown and with his finger wrote on the
ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking
him he lifted up himself, and said unto them: He that is without sin
among you let him cast a stone at her."

If Jesus had wished to abolish or alter this item of the law, this was
a timely opportunity — a point in hand: but so far from this, he ordered
the woman to be immediately stoned: provided there was one virtuous
man among all her accusers, who was himself so pure as to be worthy to
execute the law: but as none were found in that age of degeneracy, she
went unpunished: but was strictly admonished to sin no more.

Again: 1st Corinthians, chapter 5th, verse 5th: The Apostle Paul
in reference to a person in the church who had committed fornication,
exhorted the saints, " to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction
of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."
This destruction of the flesh must have had reference to the death of the
body; the man having justly forfeited his life, in accordance with the law
of God. And the spirit being saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, must
have had an allusion to the great day of his second coming: thus showing
that the fornicator under the light of the gospel, had forfeited his life in
t'lis world, and his salvation in the world to come, for at least eighteen
hundred years.

Thus, under all dispensations, whether Patriarchal, Mosaic, or
Christian, the penalty annexed to unlawful sexual intercourse appears to
be the same: growing out of a fixed and unchanged law of God: — a wise
provision: — a bright cherub with a flaming sword, as it were, to guard
the chaste and sacred fountain or issues of life. It is true Jesus Christ
and his Apostles, so far as their writings have come to us, have not dwelt
upon practical plurality in their own age, for the best of all reasons,
Judea, was then a Roman province, under Poman laws, which were
opposed to polygamy. On this account the Jews had greatly degenera-
ted; they had corrupted their way, and perverted the pure institutions of
their more virtuous fathers. Hence John the Baptist and Jesus Christ
reproved them sharply, calling them a generation of vipers—'* an evil and
adulterous generation, who had made void the law of God by their tradi-

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY. 15.

tions." But, one thing is certain, Jesus Christ and his Apostles always
approved of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the holy prophets of old; — ■
bore testimony of their virtue and faithfulness, and represented them as
honorable fathers of the faithful, and members or rulers in the kingdom-
of God. ' '

Jesus said on one occasion to the Jews: "If ye were Abraham's seed'
ye would do the works of Abraham." On another occasion he said:
" Many shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north,
and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jecob
in the kingdom of God: but ye shall be thrust out." See Luke, 13th-
chapter, verses 28-29.

Paul and the apostles exhort the saints to be like Abraham the father
of the faithful, whose children they were through the gospel ; and if
children, then heirs through the same covenant of promise. Now we
have already shown that the promises made to Abraham, to which the
New Testament saints were heirs, included exceeding multiplicity of
children, and consequently of wives, as the means of carrying out the
same. But, lest any might mistake this point of the covenant and
promise.-:, Jesus Christ himself has set it for ever at rest.

He said: Luke, 18th chapter, verses 29-30: Verily I say unto you,
there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or
children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive many fold
more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

Men, brethren and fathers: — In this review we have proved:

First: An everlasting, covenant made with Abraham, in which all
nations should be blessed.

Secondly: That one main feature of this covenant pertained to the
exceeding great multiplicity of our species, and to the organization,
perpetuity and growth of families, nations, and kingdoms.

Thirdly: That God, being the best judge of the means of multiplying,
appointed a plurality of wives, for good and holy men, as a principal
means of multiplying their seed, and forbade, on pain of death, all sexual
intercourse, except that sanctioned by the holy laws of marriage.

Fourthly: That the covenant and laws pertaining to marriage and
virtue, or the moral and social relations of the sexes, as held by Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob were never altered or disannulled, either by Moses or
the prophets, Jesus Christ or the apostles; consequently that this cove-
nant, and the laws, penalties, and promises thereunto pertaining, are, or
by right ought to be, still of force.

Fifthly: That all nations were to be blessed in these covenants and
institutions; and that the Gentiles were, to become fellow heirs of the
same by the gospel; through which they became the seed of Abraham.

And, sixthly: That to transgress these holy laws, change this
ordinance, or break this everlasting covenant, would, according to Isaiah

16 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IK SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY

the prophet, "defile the very earth, under the inhabitants thereof." "Wo
next inquire, what power has been guilty of such innovations? Who has
transgressed the laws — changed the ordinance — broken the everlasting
covenant?

This we charge home upon Rome. She is the "fourth beast" of
Daniel's vision: "She ruled the earth as with a rod of iron:" — " She
made war with the saints and overcame them:"— She changed the laws,
and institutions of both Jews and Christians: by her sorceries were all
nations deceived: — She, in short, is "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the
mother of harlots and abominations of the earth:" — She licensed whore-
doms; but forbade to marry; allowing to none of her citizens but one
wife, and to many of them, viz., the clergy, none at all.

Every, so called, Christian nation, including even Protestant
England, and the American States, has retained, at least, this one trait of
her superstitions and abominations. They have either permitted or
licensed whoredoms; and strictly prohibited a plurality of wives. They
have punished lightly, or not at all, that which was under all dispensations,
by the law of God considered a capital offence — a crime unto death: and
have made a crime, and annexed a heavy penalty to that which, accord-
ing to the Bible, was never recognized as a crime at all, either by God,
Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, angels, prophets, or apostles. Yea, —
fellow citizens, the laws of some of our states, I am ashamed to tell it,
would recognize as illegitimate the children of Abraham and Jacob;
would take from them their wives'; thus tearing asunder what God hath
joined together; and would doom those holy patriarchs, themselves, to
hard labor and solitary confinement within the walls of a prison for years;
and then suffer their wives and children to be prostituted with impunity:
and then, as if to crown the climax of inconsistency, such an order of
things, taken together, would be called " Virtue," and such institutions be
dignified by the name of " Christianity." Such institutions have filled
" Christendom " with whoredoms, her cities with abominations, and the
world with disease and rottenness; till the words of Isaiah have been
fulfilled: "The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof."

For instance, look at Paris, the capital of Christian France; one
third of the children born there are said to be illegitimate, according to
their own laws. Look at the capital of Austria, another so-called,
Christian power: one half of her children are said to be illegitimate.

Look at the census of Europe, and even of our older States of this
Union: see the hundreds of thousands of females more than of males. All
this surplus of immortal beings are doomed by the Romish law, prohibi-
ting polygamy, to live single, and to never form those ties which would
enable them lawfully and honorably to answer the "end" of their
creation as wives and mothers. Nor is this all: under the present
institutions men are trained to feel little or no obligation to marry: many

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT 07 POLYGAMY. 1*1

of them choose : to live single. This increases the number of females
doomed to single life.

Nor does the mischief end here; the present wars in Europe, alone,
have deprived the world of perhaps half a million of men in, the vigor of
life — candidates for the sacred offices of husband and father; by which
means the same number of females are, by the monogamic law, added to
the prohibited list.

All the surplus female population arising from these and other
canses are, by the one wife system, utterly prohibited marriage; and thus,
compelled to break the first and great command of God, viz; " Be fruit-
ful and multiply."

Thus the laws of modern " Christendom," borrowed from Rome,,
have overwhelmed the nations with the grossest immoralities — with sin,
and sorrow, and tears, and wretched loneliness and widowhood. The
widows mourn having no husbands; the virgins mourn having no bride-
grooms; children mourn having no protectors; and families and nations
mourn, having no confidence in themselves or each other. Virtue and
confidence have fled; mercy weeps tears of blood; charity itself falters,
and is ready to yield to the cries of justice for vengeance on the earth.

What, then, shall the righteous do?

"We reply: Restore the law of God — the new and everlasting
covenant. Let every good citizen of both sexes marry at a proper age:
bless them, and say: "Be fruitful and multiply." Make death the
penalty for fornication and adultery: thus throwing a shield around onr
families and sacred domestic institutions. Let the monogamic law,
restricting a man to one wife, with all its attendant train of whoredoms,
intrigues, seductions, wretched and lonely single life, hatred, envy,
jealousy, infanticide, illegitimacy, disease and death, like the millstone
cast into the depths of the sea, sink with great Babylon to rise no more.
Let every man and woman be virtuous, pure, holy, filling the measure of
their creation. And let us go to, aud fill these mountains; the States,
North and South America; the earth; and an endless succession of
worlds with a holy, virtuous, and highly intellectual seed; whose hearts
shall delight in the law of God.

Let our sons become the sons of God, through faith in Jesus Christ,
and obedience to the gospel; let this law be indelibly engraved on the
tablet of their hearts: let them be early indoctrinated in every principle
of virtue and honor: that each may be a conservatory of chastity, and
wield a savory influence in every circle of his acquaintance. Let them
learn to respect themselves as sons of God, and the other sex as sisters,
daughters of the Highest, holy vessels, eternal beings, destined as'
companions and co-workers in the great science of life. Let them be
tanght to aspire, by every principle of honor and integrity, to the
patriarchal throne, as heads of families and saviours of men.

Let our daughters also obey the ordinances of God, and receive and

18 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OP POLYGAMY.

cultivate the gift of the Holy • Ghost, in every good and pure affection.
Let them early understand the true relationship they are destined to
sustain to the other sex. Let them be taught to respect them as
brothers, worthy of their confidence and affection, worthy to become
their savior, and head, as Christ is the head of the church. Let them be
taught to respect and revere themselves, as holy vessels, destined to
sustain and magnify the eternal and sacred relationship of wife and
mother: to be the ornament and glory of man; and to share with him
a never fading crown, and an eternally increasing dominion.

In short, let us educate our sons and daughters in all that is holy
and true, and virtuous and pure, and lovely and of good report: let us
gradually and carefully develop in them the true affections and attributes
of their nature : let us cultivate every intellectual and moral sense and
faculty within them, and lead them gently onward in the great science of
life and exaltation.; that, when time shall be no more, we may rejoice
with the untold millions of our posterity in the eternal mansions.

A PROTESTANT MINISTER'S ARGUMENTS

FROM THE BIBLE IN FAVOR OF POLYGAMY.

We make the following extracts from a work recently published on
" India, Ancient and Modern," by David O. Allen, D.. D., Missionary of
the American Board for twenty-five years in India, etc. They are
published in his work in an appendix devoted to the subject of Polygamy.
This subject was taken into consideration by the Calcutta Missionary
Conference, composed of Missionaries from various sects of England and
America, and including Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists and
Congregationalists, in consequence of the application of polygamists in
India, who had been legally married to several wives and who had given
credible evidence of their personal piety, to be admitted into the church.
After frequent consultations and much consideration the Conference
unanimously came to the following conclusion:

' ' If a convert, before becoming a Christian, has married more wives
than one, in accordance with the practice of the Jewish and primitive
Christian churches, he shall be permitted to keep them all, but such a person
is not eligible to any office in the church."

The arguments which we quote below are advanced in Dr. Allen's work
as a justification of this action of the Conference of Protestant Missiona*
ries on the subject of Polygamy.

" To those who have doubts in respect to the intrinsic moral lawful*
ness of polygamy as it existed among the ancient Jews, and who wish
further to examine this subject, the consideration of the following

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY. 19

extracts from a work called ' Thelyphthora/ published anonymously *
many years ago in England, is recommended. The author of this work
says:

" ' The best and fairest, and indeed the only way, to get at the
truth, on this, as on every other occasion where religion is concerned, is
to lay aside prejudice, from whatever quarter it may be derived, and to
let the Bible speak for itself. Then we shall see that polygamy,
notwithstanding the seventh commandment, was allowed by God himself,
who, however others might take it, must infallibly know his own mind, be
perfectly acquainted with his own will, and thoroughly understand his
own law. If he did not intend to allow polygamy, but to prevent and
condemn it, either by the seventh commandment, or by some other law,
how is it possible that he should make laws for its regulation, any more
than he should make laws for the regulation of theft or murder? How is
it conceivable that he should give the least countenance to it, or so express
his approbation as even to work miracles in support of it ? For the
making a woman fruitful who was naturally barren, must have been the
effect of supernatural power. He blessed, and in a distinguished manner
owned, the issue, and declared it legitimate to all intents and purposes.
If this be not allowance, what is?

" ' As to the first, namely, his making laws for the regulation of
polygamy, let us consider what is written in Exo. 21: 10. If he (i. e.,
the husband) take him another wife (not, in so doing, he sins against the
seventh commandment, recorded in the preceding chapter, but), her food,
her raiment, (i. e., of the first wife), and her duty of marriage, he shall not
diminish. Here God positively forbids a neglect, much more the divorcing
or putting aicay of the first wife, but charges no sin in taking the second.

" ' 2dly. When Jacob married Rachel she was barren, and so
continued for many years ; but God did not leave this as a punishment
upon her for marrying a man who had another wife. It is said, Gen. 30:'
22, that God remembered Rachel; and God hearkened unto her, and opened
her womb, and she conceived and bare a son, and said, God hath taken away
my reproach. Surely this passage of Scripture ought to afford a complete
answer to those who bring the words of the marriage bond as cited by
Christ, Math. 19: 5 — They twain shall be one flesh — to prove polygamy
sinful, and should lead us to construe them, as by this instance and many
others the Lawgiver himself appears to have done; that is to say, where
a woman, not betrothed to another man, unites herself in personal
knowledge with the man of her choice, let that man's situation be what it-
may, they twain shall be one flesh. How, otherwise, do we find such a
woman as Rachel united to Jacob, who had. a wife then living, praying to
God for a blessing on her intercourse with Jacob, and God hearkening unto
Iter, opening her womb, removing her barrenness, and thus by miracle

c This work, though published anonymously, was generally -understood to be
written by the Rev. Martin Madan, Chaplain of the Lock Hospital in London.

20 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY.

taking away her reproach? "We also find the offspring legitimate, and
inheritors of the land of Canaan; a plain proof that Joseph and Benjamin
were no lastards, or bom out of lawful marriage.* See a like palpable
instance of God's miraculous blessing on polygamy in the case of Hannah,
1 Sam. i. and ii. These instances serve also to prove that, in God's
account, the second marriage is just as valid as the first, and as obligatory ;
and that our making it less so, is contradictory to the Divine wisdom.

" ' 3^%. God blessed and owned the issue. How eminently this was
the case with regard to Joseph, see Gen. 49: 22-26; to Samuel, see 1
Sam. 3: 15. It was expressly commanded that a bastard, or son of a
woman who was with child by whoredom, should not enter into the congrega-
tion of the Lord, even to Ms tenth generation (Deut. 23: 2). But we find
Samuel, the offspring of polygamy, ministering to the Lord in the
tabernacle at Shiloh even in his very childhood, clothed with a linen ephod,
before Eli the priest. See this whole history, 1 Sam. i. and ii. Who,
then, can doubt of Samuel's legitimacy," and consequently of God's
allowance of, and blessing on, polygamy? If such second marriage was,
in God's account, null aud void, as a sin against the original law of
marriage, or the seventh commandment, or any other law of God, no mark
of legitimacy could have been found on the issue; for a null and void
marriage is tantamount to no marriage at all; aud if no marriage, no
legitimacy of the issue can possibly be. Instead of such a blessing as
Hannah obtained, we should have found her and her husband Elkanah
charged with adultery, dragged forth, and stoned to death) for so was
adultery to be punished. All this furnishes us with a conclusive proof,
that the having more than one wife with which a man cohabited, was
not adultery in the sight of God; or, in other words, that it never was
reckoned by him any sin against the seventh commandment, or the
original marriage institution, or any other law whatsoever, ,' "

" ' Athly. But there is a passage (Deut. 21: 15) which is express
to the point, and amounts to a demonstration of God's allowance of
polygamy. If a man have two wives, one beloved and another hated,
and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated ; and if the
first bom be hers that was hated, then it shall be, when he malceth his sons to
inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved first-
born before the son of the hated, which is, indeed, the first-born, by giving
him a double portion of all that he hath', for he is the beginning of his
strength, and the right of the first-born is his. On the footing of this law,

° If polygamy was unlawful, then Leah was the only wife of Jacob, and none
hut her children were legitimate. Rachel as well as Bilhah and Zilpah were merely
mistresses and their children six in number were bastards, the offspring of adulterous
connection. And yet there is no intimation of any such views and feelings in La-
ban's family, or in Jacob's family, or in Jewish history. Bilhah and Zilpah are
called Jacob's wives (Gen. 37: 2) . God honored the sons of Eachel, Bilhah, and
Zilpah equally with the sons of Leah, made them the patriarchs of seven of the
tribes of the nation, and gave them equal inheritance in Canaan.- -D. 0. Ajjjen.

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IK SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY. 21

the marriage of both women is equally lawful. God calls them both wives,
and he cannot be mistaken; if he calls them so, they certainly were so. If
the second wife bore the first son, that son was to inherit before a son
born afterwards of the first wife. Here the issue is expressly deemed
legitimate, and inheritable to the double -portion of the first-born; which
could not be, if the second marriage were not deemed as lawful and valid
as the first.

" ' 5thly. To say that polygamy is sinful, is to make God the author
of sin: for, not to forbid that which is evil, but even to countenance and
promote it, is being so far the author of it, and accessory to it in the
highest degree. And shall we dare to say, or even tb think, that this is
chargeable upon him who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and wlw
cannot look on iniquity? (Hab. 1: 13.) God forbid.

" When God is upbraiding David, by the prophet Nathan, ibr his
ingratitude to his Almighty benefactor (2 Sam. xii.) he does it in the
following terms: — ver. 8. — I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's
wives unto thy bosom, and I gave thee the house of Israel and Judah, and if
that had been too little, I would moreover have given thee suck and such things.

" Can we suppose God giving more tvives than one into David's bosom,
who already had more than one, if it was sin in David to take them? Can
we imagine that God would thus transgress (as it were) his own command-
ment in one instance, and so severely reprove and chastise David for
breaking it in another? Is it not rather plain, from the whole transaction,
that David committed mortal sin in taking another living man's wife, but
not in taking the widows of the deceased Saul; and this, therefore, though
the law of God condemned the first, yet it did not condemu the second?

" Gthly. When David took the wife of Uriah, he was severely
reprimanded by the prophet Nathan; but after Uriah's death, he takes
the same woman, though he had other wives before, and no fault is found
with him; nor is he charged with the least flaw or insincerity in his
repentance on that account. The child which was the fruit of his
intercourse with Bathsheba, during her husband Uriah's life, God struck
to death with his own hand (2 Sam. 15: 15.) Solomon, born of t/iesame
woman, begotten by the same man, in a state of polygamy, is acknowledged
by God himself as David's lawful issue (1 Kings 5: 5.) and as such set
npon his throne. The law which positively excluded bastards, or those
born out of lawful wedlock, from the congregation of the Lord, even to t/ie
tenth generation, (Deut. 23: 2,) is wholly inconsistent with Solomon
being employed to build God's Temple — being the mouth of the people to
God in prayer — and offering sacrifices in the Temple at its dedication —
unless David's marriage with Bathsheba was a lawful marriage — Solomon,
the la w ful issue of that marriage — consequently polygamy no sin, either
against the primary institution of marriage, or against the seventh
oummandment. But so far from Solomon being under any disqualification

22 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY.

from the law above mentioned, he is appointed by God himself to build
Vie Temple (I Kings 8: 19.) His prayer is heard, and the house is
hallowed (chap. 9: 3.) and filled with stick glory, that the priests could not
stand to minister (chap. 8: 11.) Solomon, therefore, as well as Samuel,
stands as a demonstrable proof, that a child born under the circumstances
of polygamy is no bastard — God himself being the judge, whose judgment is
according to truth.

" A more striking instance of God's thoughts on the total difference
between polygamy and adultery, does not meet us anywhere with more
force and clearness in any part of the sacred history, than in the account
which is given us of David and Bathsheba, and their issue.

"When David took Bathsheba, she was another man's wife; the
child which he begat by her in that situation was begotten in adultery
— and the thing which David had done displeased the Lord (2 Sam. 11: 21.)
And what was the consequence? We are told, 2 Sam. 12: 1, the Lord
sent Nathan the prophet unto David. Nathan opened his commission
with a most beautiful parable descriptive of David's crime; this parable
the prophet applies to the conviction of the delinquent, sets it home upon
his conscience, brings him to repentance, and the poor penitent finds
mercy — his life is spared, ver. 13. Yet God will vindicate the honor of
his moral government, and that in the most awful manner — the murder
of Uriah is to be visited upon David and his house. The sivord shall
never depart from thine house, ver. 10. The adultery with Bathsheba was
to be retaliated in the most aggravated manner. Because thou hast
despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite- to be thy wife, thus
saith the Lord, I will raise up evil against thee, out of thine own house, and I
will take thy wives and give them unto thy neighbor before thine eyes; and he
shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the Sun; for thou didst it secretly,
but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the Sun. All this was
shortly fulfilled in the rebellion and incest of Absalom, chap. 16: 21, 22.
And this was done in the way of judgment on David for taking and
defiling the wife of Uriah, and was included in the corses threatened
(Deut. 2S: 30) to the despisers of God's laws.

" As to the issue of David's adulterous commerce with Bathsheba,
it is written, 2 Sam. 12; 15, The Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife
bare unto David, and it was very sick. What a dreadful scourge this was
to David, who could not but read his crime in his punishment, the follow-
ing verses declare — wherein we find David almost frantic with grief.
However the child's sickness was unto death, for, ver. 18, on the seventh clay
t/ie child died.

" Xow, let us take a view of David's act of polygamy, when, after
Uriah's death, he added Bathsheba to his other wives (ver. 24, 25.) And
David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her and lay with her,
and s/ie bare a son, and he called his name Selomoh (that maketh peace and

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLTGAJIY. 23

reconciliation or recompense,) and the Lord loved him. Again we find
Nathan, who had been sent on the former occasion, sent also on this, but
with a very different message. And he (the Lord) sent by the hand of
Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah ( Dilectus Domini —
Beloved of the Lord,) because of the Lord, — i. e., because of the favor
God had towards him (ver. 24.)

" Let any read onward through the whole history of Solomon; let
them consider the instances of God's peculiar favor towards him already
mentioned, and the many others that are to be found in the account we
have of him; let them compare God's dealings with the unhappy issue of
David's adultery, and this happy offspring of his polygamy, and if tha
allowance and approbation of the latter doth not as clearly appear as the
condemnation and punishment of the former, surely all distinction and
difference must be at an end, and the Scriptnre itself lose the force of its
own evidence.

" Ithly. I have mentioned the law being explained by the prophets.
These were extraordinary messengers whom God raised up and sent forth
under a special commission, not only to foretell things to come, but to
preach to the people, to hold forth the law, to point out their defections
from it, and to call them to repentance, under the severest terms of God's
displeasure unless they obeyed. Their commission, in these respects, we
find recorded in Isa. 58: 1, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a
trumpet: Shoio my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their
sins. This commission was to be faithfully executed at the peril of the
prophet's own destruction, as appears from the solemn charge given to
Ezekiel, chapter 3 : 18, When I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die,
and thou guest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked to save his
life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his. blood toill I require
at thine hand.

" These prophets executed their commissions very unfaithfully
towards God and the people, as well as most dangerously for themselves,
if polygamy was a sin against God's law, for it was the common practice
of the whole nation, from the prince on the throne to the lowest of the
people; and yet neither Isaiah, Jeremiah, nor any one of the prophets,
bore the least testimony against it. They reproved them sharply and
plainly for defiling their neighbor's loives, as Jer. 5:8. 29: 23, in which
fifth chapter we not only find the prophet bearing testimony against
adultery, but against whoredom and fornication (ver. 1,) for that they
assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses. Not a word against
polygamy. How is it possible, in any reason, to think that this, if a sin,
should never be mentioned as such by God, by Moses, or any one of the
prophets?*

° Some have considered Malachi xi: 14, 15, as a denunciation of polygamy. But
a careful ccmpariscn of these verses with the 11th verse and with the state of the

24 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF POLYGAMY.

" Lastly. In the Old Testament, polygamy was not only aUoroed in
all cases, but in some commanded. Here, for example, is the law (Dcut.
25: 5-10,) If brethren dwell together, and one of them die and have no
duld, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her
husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and
perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her. And it shall be thai
the first-born which she bcarcth shall succeed in the name of his brother which
is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel, etc.

" This law must certainly be looked upon as an exception from the

general law (Lev. 18; 16,) and the reason of it appears in the law itself,

namely, ' To preserve inheritances in the families to which they belonged.'

. . As there was no law against polygamy, there was nothing to

exempt a married man from the obligation of marrying his brother's

widow For, let us suppose that not ouly the. surviving brother,

but all the near kinsmen, to whom the marriage of the widow and the
redemption of the inheritance belonged, were married men — if that
exempted them from the obligation of this law — as they could not
redeem the inheritance unless they married the widow (Ruth 4: 5) — the
widow be tempted to marry a stranger — to put herself and the inheri-
tance into his hands — and the whole reason assigned for the law itself,
that of raising up seed to the deceased, to preserve the inheritance in his
family, that his name be not put out of Israel — fall to the ground. For
which weighty reasons, as there was evidently no law against polygamy,
there could be no exemption of a man from the positive duty of this law
because he was married. As we say, TJbi cadit ratio, ibi idem jus,"- — Vol.
i pp. 108, 131, 260, 261; vol. ii. p. 244, 402.

Jews at that time, as described in Ezra x and xi chapters, and Nehemiah xiii: 23
— 81, will show that the prophet had then no reference to polygamy, but was re-
proving the Jews for " having married the daughters of a strange god; " that is,
heathen wives, which was strictly forbidden by the laws of Moses. Deut. vu: 3.
Exodus xxxiv: 16 — D. 0. A.